Beginners’ Latin (2024)

Get Started in Latin (2014)

(Teach Yourself)

Beginners’ Latin (2024) is essentially Get Started in Latin (2014) in a new cover. There are no material differences. The 2014 edition was a revised edition of what was once Teach Yourself Beginner’s Latin. The course is for beginners who want to learn either classical or medieval Latin. The readings feature a mule and his human companions, who live in a medieval monastery under threat of attack from Danes. The story is graded gently to practise each new point of language. A classical author is introduced in each of the twelve units, and the various channels of Latin’s influence on English are explored. The online supports provide an English translation of the Latin story, and also a continuation of the story (in Latin, with notes and translations).

Beginners’ Latin was first published in 1997, and the mule and friends have survived various reprints, new editions and name changes, accumulating worldwide sales of somewhere between 130,000 and 150,000.

There is a recording of all the Latin texts. You can read more about this here.

See the back of the book (2024 edition) to access audio files directly from the publisher